I The meeting was called to order by President Heyne at 1:35 p.m.
A. ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Alexander, B. Biswas, N.
Bandopadhyay, S. Creed, J.
Beget, J. Gerlach, C.
Bischak, D. Nance, K.
Braddock, J. Weingartner, T.
Carlson, R. (M. Tumeo)
Craven, J.
Curda, L. OTHERS PRESENT:
Hallsten, D. Ducharme, J.
He'bert, M. Gregory, G.
Heyne, E. Layral, S.
Illingworth, R. Martin, W.
Jennings, M. Wadlow, J.
Juday, G.
Kelley, J. (W. Smoker)
Layer, P.
Lynch, D.
McBeath, G.
McFadden, T.
McLean-Nelson, D. (B. Wilson)
Morgan, J.
Perkins, M.
Pippenger, M. (K. Abramowicz)
Ralonde, R
Reynolds, J.
Schatz, M.
Seifert, R.
Summerville, S.
Swazo, N.
Thomas, D.
Wade, C.
Walworth, J
NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: NON-VOTING MEMBERS ABSENT:
Scholle, M. - President, UAFSC Hayes, J. - President, ASUAF
Alexander, V. - Dean, SFOS Graduate student
Hedahl, G. - Dean, CLA
Tremarello, A - Director, A&R
B. The minutes to Meeting #57 (April 24, 1995) were amended
under IX, G. - Other New Business to include the following
list of schools/departments some of whose faculty Senator
Swazo was acting on behalf of: Philosophy/Humanities,
TVC, CRA/IAC, SME, GI, Library Science, English, Music,
Physical Education, Justice, Geography, Sociology, and CCC.
The minutes were then approved as amended.
C. The agenda was approved as distributed via e-mail.
II Status of Chancellor's Office Actions
A. Motions Approved:
1. Amend Section 3 (ARTICLE V: Committees)
STANDING and PERMANENT, of the Bylaws
pertaining to the Graduate Council.
2. Delete Section 3 (ARTICLE V: Committees)
PERMANENT, B & C, of the Bylaws pertaining to
Graduate Council.
3. Motion to approve the Unit Criteria of the Art
Department, Library Science, College of Natural
Science, Mathematical Sciences, and School of
Engineering.
B. Motions Pending: none
III Comments from Chancellor Wadlow -
Chancellor urged everyone to meet the new faculty on campus.
The Chancellor has sent to the Senate leadership a request to
develop policy which addresses faculty/student consensual amorous
relations. This has been assigned to the Faculty Affairs Committee,
Dorothy Jones is available to supply assistance to the Senate. The
Chancellor has not proposed a specific policy but has provided a
number of illustrations of recently adopted policies from different
universities, as well as the AAUP policy. There is a wide range of
actions and policies.
The Grievance Council procedures and the Regents' policy on
grievance is under review with the intent of revising some of the
current policies that govern the Grievance Council operations.
Related to that, UAF finally has a grievance handbook that is
available for the council members as well as the hearing panels.
Dorothy Jones will be tracking the review and proposed revision
being conducted statewide. The Chancellor wants to be sure that
UAF faculty and staff that have actively participated in the Council
and who have been involved in training sessions have an opportunity
to propose changes in the policy based on their hands-on experience.
This will be an opportunity to make changes that would provide for
more equitable, fair procedures, as well as one that is more
expeditious and allows some informal resolution. Regent Mike Kelly
chairs the committee that will deal with this and is eager to have a
good policy.
The Board of Regents has decided to conduct a review of all
academic policies. It began a couple of months ago in the Academic
Affairs committee now chaired by Virginia Breeze. The stage at
which the review is now at is there is a compilation of all academic
policies with some proposed changes. The Faculty Senate needs to
watch this very carefully. The Provost is very concerned that we
watch this and we don't let things move ahead without ample review
and input on our part.
The Chancellor spoke on the new salary policy for non-
bargaining unit faculty. For years there has been talk about having a
salary policy that is not based entirely on across-the-board raises.
There has been talk about having a salary policy that allows
rewarding really good performance by individuals. The Board of
Regents worked with these ideas. There is a great deal of
controversy and not everyone is happy with the policy the Board has
approved. The university will be implementing it during the course
of the year. Both the Provost and the Chancellor are committed to
having widespread faculty involvement in the development of the
procedures to be used, the criteria to be employed and the actual
carrying out of the Board's policy. The Chancellor believes that the
policy and the implementation of the policy should be driven by the
faculty. This is an opportunity for the faculty to help shape how it
will be implemented. After a year's experience then we can look at
what was done, evaluate it, and propose changes. There is a
mechanism in place with the Alliance, the Academic Affairs
Committee of the Regents, as well as the Systemwide Academic
Council for ample opportunity to propose revisions based on the
first-year experience. There is a lot of material faculty elsewhere
have gone through which can be drawn upon. Another part of the
policy that is often overlooked is that the Chancellor may allocate
differentially to the colleges/schools the amounts of salary
increases. The Chancellor doesn't intend to do this in an arbitrary
way. Some criteria need to be developed, understood by everyone,
and implemented with faculty input.
Program Assessment has now become a day-to-day activity.
UAF is on schedule with the actions that are supposed to be
implemented this year. The Chancellor makes a written report to
the Board every meeting. The Chancellor wants UAF to be prepared
to accelerate the program assessment process. This can occur on
two fronts--one would be the acceleration of implementating the
actions already approved by the Board of Regents. The second type
would be to accelerate the evaluation beyond the actions which have
been approved for the next three years by the Board. If we
accelerate we will probably do both. So it will be gradual and
graduated in each instance. In order to prepare we held a critique of
the program assessment last June. The summary is included in an
attachment to the agenda. The Chancellor is implementing one of the
recommendations: to set up a small group which will review all of
the studies made in recent years about reallocation and shifting of
resources. That committee will look for ideas from the past which
we might use today. Paul Reichardt has agreed to chair the
committee. John Craven, Dana Thomas, John Phillips, Peggy
Shumaker, and Charlie Dexter are members of the committee.
The Chancellor next spoke on the financial picture for the
current year. There are still some uncertainties. We are unsure of
what this fall's tuition revenue will be and won't know the final
story until next spring. We can all work hard to improve the number
of students who stay at UAF. After four years of significant,
continual reallocation UAF's budget is in decent shape. We don't face
this year with a four million shortfall like we did a couple of those
years. If we implement the program assessment as planned, if we
retain students between first semester and second, if the tuition
revenue projection is accurate and we keep the students, we will be
able to get through this year without significant acceleration of the
program assessment process. Our current picture is good because as
we look toward the future and listen to what the projection about
the state of Alaska fiscal gap and how it is growing, we don't want
to start next year in a deficit position, and we will not be doing
that.
Related to the financial picture is enrollment. The number of
applications were significantly less than in previous years. With a
lot of hard work by many individuals the enrollment is down only
4.5%. The rural figures are still not in except for Tanana Valley
Campus. The Kuskokwim enrollment looks very strong. The
freshman enrollment is down. We will have to begin immediately to
acknowledge this and devise our enrollment strategy for next year
accordingly. One of the key parts of this will be to step up our
retention efforts. The second element is to focus on securing
transfer students. The Enrollment Strategy Board will begin to
figure out an aggressive recruiting strategy for transfer students.
Related to the whole revenue situation is alternative sources
of revenue. One of these is private fund raising. There have been
two orientation sessions involving deans and directors to enlist
their help in securing additional private funds or private in-kind
support. Next week we will be fund raising in Seattle. Scott Smiley
will be participating in a major effort to secure additional private
funds for the field of fisheries. Another major gift will be
announced during the first week of October. MAPCO has renewed its
equipment grant this year.
The Chancellor expected informal discussion of themes and
new programs she learned about while in Washington last week. One
theme is that the change underway in Washington is permanent.
Because of our experience here at UAF we are well positioned to
cope with the changes. We are already engaged in the solutions
being proposed. Agencies are talking about alternative sources and
partnerships.
Federal agencies are initiating new programs in response to
critics of higher education which fit in with what we do at UAF. One
of the newer ones is overhauling, and revising undergraduate
education in science and engineering. This is a new approach by NSF.
Another program responds to the charge that faculty separate
research and teaching too much. The idea of this program aimed at
young faculty is for them to present proposals that will link their
research to their classroom teaching.
Joli Morgan indicated that Kuskokwim Campus staff and
faculty have worked very hard on recruitment and this semester they
have 400 students, 71 full time. They have also been selected as a
site for a one-stop shop in which the state of Alaska's job corp
center is moving to campus. Employees from many agencies will be
coming into our facility for both educational opportunities and
training in one location. The dorm is also full.
Don Lynch asked about UAF's enrollment figures. There are
6,606 students and 69,327 SCH. This is down 5.8% for the student
credit hours. Norman Swazo asked about the salary policy. The
Chancellor indicated that this was a revision of the salary policy so
that we can have a policy which rewards performance. It replaces
the previous across the board policy. The policy has been approved
and the Chancellor and Provost will be working to implement it the
way it has been approved.
IV Governance Reports
A. ASUAF - J. Hayes - None
B. Staff Council - M. Scholle
The Staff Council met last week. Staff Council worked to get
the word out about UAF by selling mugs at the state fair. The money
raised went to purchase cookies for students during the first week
of registration. It went off very well. The students were grateful
to be fed while they were trying to figure out where they were
going.
Staff Council has been heavily involved in the College Town
Day activities. This is an effort to get the college and community
back together again. This effort has been going on all summer. Eric
Heyne, Joe Hayes and the Chamber of Commerce have all been
working hard on this endeavor.
Staff Council discussed the faculty salary options that were
passed by the Board of Regents. They are hoping that next month,
when Don Lynch comes to speak to the Staff Council, he can
enlighten them about what the faculty perceive are the problems.
Marie has had several conversations with Cheryl Mann and she
understands, through Eric's letter and talking with other people,
some of the perceived problems. But Staff Council would like to
hear from the Senate.
Staff Council would like to support the faculty in any way they
can, in student recruitment or whatever problems come about. They
have been very successful in having the staff morale issue taken
care of. They feel that the staff morale is high. They are working
hard to keep the students active. They would like to see the faculty
gain the morale that the staff has.
C. President's Report - E. Heyne
Eric indicated that it was good to see the faces of the rural
faculty. He encouraged everyone to use good audioconferencing
citizenship. Eric's report was attached to the agenda and he asked
for any questions. Joli Morgan commented that in 20 years in the
bargaining unit the union has never stifled his creativity in teaching.
V Public Comments/Questions - none
VI Old Business
A. Assessment Report - D. Thomas & M. He'bert
Eric indicated that the assessment report was not authored by
Thomas and He'bert but they were on the committee that produced
the report. They can answer any questions about the report. The
report has been supplied for your information.
Jerry McBeath asked the Chancellor about the two-pronged
approach on the evaluation of the C and B list. The Chancellor saw
this as a new component of review of the B and C list. She is
waiting to see if there is any new ideas looking over the old reports.
Jerry also asked about the need for closure on program assessment.
Eric indicated that his impression was that the Board anticipates
that program assessment is a never-ending process. They want this
to be ongoing self-evaluation, self-criticism, self-assessment tied
to finances. The Chancellor agreed that it was a very accurate
statement.
Dana Thomas indicated that as faculty have questions they
should feel free to visit with him anytime and he would be happy to
share his experiences.
Rich Seifert asked Dana if he felt that the process was never-
ending. Dana indicated that his perception of program assessment
was dynamic in the sense that when he started he felt it was a one-
time thing to bring our budget in line and have a review of our
programs. Certainly by the time that he was finished with the
initial work he saw that it was probably going to be a continuing
process. Rich saw this as a central morale problem and felt that
someone should mention this to the Regents. Eric noted that the
October Board of Regents meeting will be held in Fairbanks and that
everyone has three minutes to speak before the Board.
VII New Business
A. Confirmation of Faculty Appeals & Oversight Committee
membership, submitted by Administrative Committee
Eric indicated that there has been a problem getting all the
spots filled and asked the Senate to approved the members that we
have nominated and get this committee working. We will confirm
the members that we do have and confirm the remainder at the next
meeting. There was no objection to the motion.
MOTION PASSED (unanimous)
==============
The UAF Faculty Senate moves to confirm the membership of the
Faculty Appeals and Oversight Committee membership as follows:
Diane Bischak, Associate Professor, SOM
Dennis Crawford, Associate Professor, ACE (96)
Marvin Falk, Associate Professor, CLA
Greg Goering, Associate Professor, SOM
DeAnne Hallsten, Professor, CRA
Alan Jubenville, Professor, SALRM
Vidyadhar. Kamath, Professor, SME
Meriam Karlsson, Associate Professor, SALRM
Walt Peterson, Instructor, CRA
Nag Rao, Professor, CLA
Wayne Vandre, Professor, ACE
Daniel Walsh, Associate Professor, SME
EFFECTIVE: Immediately
*********************
B. Resolution on Regents' policy on non-bargaining unit
faculty compensation, submitted by Administrative Committee
Don Lynch passed out his comments on the proposed policy.
Speaking on the resolution, he indicated that Regents policy has
nothing in common with what was passed last year. He attended two
Regents meeting and a subcommittee meeting which considered this
matter. The opinions of the three faculty Senates and the Faculty
Alliance were completely, totally, and absolutely ignored. There is
no opportunity for the viewpoint of this body or the Alliance to be
heard at the Regents except during the public comment period.
The second point is that no more than 80% of the faculty would
get raises every year. The raises would range between 2 and 10%.
That means that 1/5th of our faculty every year can anticipate never
getting a raise. Looking at the budget for UAF, one-third of the state
money goes to support instruction. That is the area the Regents are
most concerned about. Research faculty bring in $90 million. Half
the faculty are research faculty and can we deny them a paltry 2%
raise when they bring in $90 million a year?
The policy does leave the raises up to the discretion of the
Chancellor. She has told us here and the Provost indicated to us that
they want to include the faculty in the evaluation process. We are
going to spend a lot of time evaluating each other. The amounts
involved in raises might just about pay for the time we are involved
in evaluating each other.
Don commented that the new policy was insulting, divisive,
and not responsive to the work of the campuses. The last section is
almost word for word like the UAA Faculty Senate resolution. This
resolution will be sent to UAS and he felt they would agreed with it.
He then recommended that the Senate pass the resolution.
Jerry McBeath asked what we can do with this resolution. Don
indicated that he was hopeful that the Regents would listen when
they see this coming from all three Faculty Senates.
Eric commented on the approval process of the Board of
Regents. The Board approves the policies. The regulations are
formulated by Statewide Administration. Statewide shows the BOR
the regulations but they don't vote on the regulations. Statewide is
whom the Alliance negotiated with. The Alliance only spoke to the
Regents at their meeting on this issue. The Alliance spoke with
Statewide for months and appeared to be approaching a compromise,
and then Statewide gave the Regents three options. The Regents
indicated their preference which was the 80% option. Don indicated
that at the August Regents meeting they were given a copy of the
regulations. They understood them and asserted they have the right
to approve anything connected with salary increases. Don also
clarified that at the July meeting of the Board of Regents Human
Resources Committee the compensation policy suggested by the
Faculty Alliance and voted on and approved by all three Faculty
Senates was totally ignored. The question was called. There was no
objection to the resolution and it passed unanimously.
RESOLUTION PASSED (unanimous)
==================
WHEREAS, the recently adopted Regents' policy on non-bargaining
unit faculty compensation has nothing in common with the UAF
Faculty Senate and statewide Faculty Alliance
recommendations for faculty compensation developed over
the last year in consultation with the Systemwide Academic
Council; and
WHEREAS, Regents' policy assumes that at least one-fifth of
University of Alaska faculty are not satisfactorily performing
their jobs and therefore do not deserve annual raises, and
furthermore asks faculty to identify those undeserving
professors; and
WHEREAS, Regents' policy allows for a maximum of fourth-fifths of
the faculty to receive annual raises in a given year, but does
not offer any minimum, so that ³annual² raises are actually
entirely discretionary; and
WHEREAS, Regents' policy also includes an explicitly ³discretionary²
fund for administrators to grant raises to whomever they
please, including raises for promotion of anywhere between
zero and ten percent; and
WHEREAS, Regents' policy is insulting, divisive, and not responsive
to the collaborative work of faculty on all three campuses;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, That the UAF Faculty Senate joins the
UAA Faculty Senate in urging the Board of Regents immediately
to suspend the new policy and hold adequate public hearings to
consider adoption of the UA Faculty Alliance recommended
compensation policy.
********************
VIII Committee Reports
A. Curricular Affairs - Dana Thomas
The following Curricular Affairs Report was submitted as a handout
at the Faculty Senate meeting by Dana Thomas. Dana indicated that
items 2 a & b were motions that the committee hopes to bring
before the Faculty Senate at the next meeting. The next meeting is
September 28th at 11:30 a.m. If you have any concerns Dana
suggested that you attend. Two other comments: 1) For the first
time Curricular Affairs is going to be taking a planning approach to
its business. They will establish a rotational review of academic
policies. 2) UAF will be visited by the Northwest Association of
Schools and Colleges for an accreditation review on October 24-25,
1995. Dana was involved in drafting the accreditation report and
one thing that he learned was that UAF added quite a few more
certificate, degree programs and minors than we deleted. Dana
strongly encouraged the school/college curriculum review
committees to look seriously at any new proposals from a budget
sense.
Eric indicated that the Curricular Affairs committee would be
taking the lead in the review of academic policies that the Regents
is undertaking.
CURRICULAR AFFAIRS REPORT
Curricular Affairs met on August 31 and September 12. There was
not a quorum at the August 31 meeting so only informal discussion
occurred; no action was taken. At the September 12 meeting the
committee met and discussed the following items:
1) A rotational review of academic policies. A subcommittee of
Ann Tremarello, John Craven, Gail Gregory, and Maynard Perkins will
compile a draft list of policies and recommend an order of review of
such policies.
2) Course Compression - the committee formulated and internally
approved two motions which are to be submitted for the Senate's
consideration at the next meeting of the Senate. These are:
a) Any course compressed to less than six weeks must be
approved by the college or school's curriculum council. Furthermore,
any core course compressed to less than 6 weeks must be approved
by the Core Review Committee. Passed 6 yeas and 3 nays.
b) Any new course proposal shall have a section indicating
those course compression formats in which the course will be
taught. Only those formats approved will be allowed for scheduling.
Passed 6 yeas, 1 abstained.
The curricular affairs committee will meet at 11:30am Thursday
September 28, 1995 to continue its work on the topics listed below.
Any individual interested in any of these topics or other issues
within the purview of curricular affairs is welcome to attend.
- Cleaning up the deadlines for last day to add, drop, withdraw,
change from credit to audit, etc.
- Guidelines for interdisciplinary baccalaureate degrees.
- Deletion of courses listed in the catalog which have not been
offered within a reasonable length of time.
- Cleaning up the new grade appeals policy; in particular, what if
the department head is the instructor, what if the student completes
all course requirements and the instructor issues an NB or I.
- Review of 500 level course policies; in particular, not subject to
course compression policies and petitionable for credit issues.
- Review credit by exam policy
- Formulation of a motion regarding a comprehensive review of the
Core Curriculum.
B. Committee to Nominate Commencement Speakers &
Honorary Degree Recipients - David Hales
A CHCSHDR report was attached to the agenda.
IX Discussion Items
Joli Morgan spoke on the difficulties Kuskokwim campus
encountered in ordering books for classes because of the centralized
ordering. Glenn Juday asked how the Senate can play a constructive
role in initiating a serious proposal to the Board of Regents to
eliminate one layer of administration at the university. Dana
Thomas indicated that the Regents have looked at this issue and it
always comes into play with the unity issue. They are considering
the possibility of a single accreditation systemwide rather than
three separate accreditations. The implications are significant for
all of us. It may impact promotion and tenure as well. The biggest
single thing affecting our budget in the state is that the Regents and
possibly the Legislature don't have a realistic view of the
distinctions between the three campuses and what they should be
doing. Glenn asked the Senators to take this issue back to their
constituents.
X Members' Comments/Questions
Madeline Schatz commented on the Music Department's Arctic
Chamber Orchestra's tour around the state. There are eight faculty
members who travel with the Orchestra, as well as twelve
community members and eight students. The tour goes into the
schools all through the state. Most of the people involved donate
their time to do this and we act as good will ambassadors to the
state from the university.
Michael Jennings announced that the Legislative and Fiscal
Affairs committee will meet on September 22. Senator Reynolds
will take the lead on budget matters and Michael will take the lead
on legislative matters.
Linda Curda asked that there be some consideration on Senate
meeting dates to coincide with Board of Regents meetings in the
future.
A reminder that the October Senate meeting will be held in the
Butrovich Building in the Regents Conference Room.
XI Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
Tapes of this Faculty Senate meeting are in the Governance Office,
312 Signers' Hall if anyone wishes to listen to the complete tapes.
Submitted by Sheri Layral, Faculty Senate Secretary.